Banksy, one of the greatest self publicists in the world, after all, no one really knows who he is, yet, everybody does. Banksy’s work has recieved both criticism and acclaim, but is it art?

Banksy first grabbed my attention a few years ago, before he was as ‘big’ as he is now, i got a book of his called ‘existencilism’ which fetchs a nice price on ebay these days. Works of his have fetched thousands at auction, but councils and governing bodies see it as vandalism, who’s right? Some of his work in his hometown has been deemed art and therefore protected, but other graffiti artists have their work covered up with new paint… what makes their work any less ‘art’?

I’m not sure about anyone else but to me Banksy is a kind of a revolution, before i saw some spraypaint on a wall, depicting some smiley face or a scribbled unleginle name, i would tut. Then Banksy came along and didn’t do ‘mindless’ graffiti, you can see there’s thought and effort gone into, to create something new, and often thought provoking. Art makes you ask questions not only of the piece but it’s message, Banksy does the same. Still, it’s just vandalism isn’t it?